We didn’t have the chance to go hands-on with the upcoming Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave. However, we read and watched as many previews as we could and for some reason insisted on offering our own thoughts. We’ve linked and credited each preview before we discuss them, so make sure you check out the people doing the actual work instead of whatever this is!
By Adam Vitale and Cullen Black
RPG Site is a personal favorite of mine, and this preview delivers a nice overview of Fortune’s Weave’s opening hours. It uses Cai and Ditrech’s campaigns as examples, whereas I'm personally more interested in the other two protagonists. With how they explain the time travel bit, I’m also curious if you can just head to the final battle immediately without completing any of the Hero campaigns. It's a good preview that tells you what you can expect without spoiling anything, though I did have to reread a few sentences to understand what they were trying to say. Still, I prefer that over something overly formal or impersonal.
Video: 5 New Things I Love in Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave (And 1 Thing I Don’t)
IGN is the biggest site in the block, and their preview is in both written and video forms. It's also structured like a numbered list for some reason and features some key takeaway bullets up top. I'm not a fan of either of these things, as it just feels like it's written to maximize SEO rather than be read by a person. Unfortunately that's the era of the internet we live in right now, where people use Chat GPT as a search engine and get their news from social media.
Even with my gripes, this is a great preview, not only informing you on mechanics and the vibe of the story, but also being a fun read. Brendan Graeber is a funny guy, and there are some nice anecdotes and jokes sprinkled throughout. I particularly appreciated confirmation that you can indeed attempt the final battle solo and the bit about FW’s tea time equivalent. There’s also a ton of screenshots in the written version if you just want to get a look at the game.
Josh Broadwell focuses mostly on gameplay here, but first dives a bit deeper into the story than other previews so far. A little too deep I found for my taste, but that really depends on preference as there's no big spoilers. I appreciated more detail on how dungeons and free time work, but the article as a whole reads a bit too close to a review for me. That's all up to what you want out of a preview again.
I love when you can instantly tell someone is passionate about a subject, and Connor Christie delivers on that front. He touches on every part of the game nicely while leaving you with a ton to discover on your own. I especially enjoyed him touching on narrative design as that's the field I'm trying to enter.
He's also the only one so far to have some slight negative critique. Previews are usually about hype, but it does help to properly set expectations, with the caveat that these things could be fixed by launch. I wasn't familiar with Pocket Tactics or Christie before, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on his work.
By Harry Padoan
This one starts off with a nice personal story about Harry Padoan’s first Fire Emblem game, Awakening. It's a nice way to kick things off, and he's also the first to talk about the two female Flame Lords taking part in the Heroic Games. He's also the only one to mention the music so far, which is something I'm particularly interested in after the Special Release of some tracks on Nintendo Music. Continuing on with the first, there’s also a bit about performance here. No specifics but it sounds like the game looks good and runs well.
By Dom Peppiatt
If there's one thing this preview emphasizes, it's that Fortune’s Weave is massive. It's a brief but meandering article, touching on multiple aspects of the game lightly. If you want to go in as blind as possible but can't help your hype, Dom Peppiatt has you covered.
There's a lot of hyperbole in this one, but that just makes it feel like you're listening to a friend recommend you a game they've been obsessed with. Obsessed might be the right word here, as Skill Up played the first five chapters of all four routes. An impressive feat only true freaks are capable of, making us kindred spirits in a way. This feels like the most in-depth preview so far, though it's mostly talking about Skill Up’s experience rather than spoiling anything. It's clear a lot of work went into this preview.
From the jump you can tell Ryan Thompson-Bamsey is a Fire Emblem veteran, because the preview begins with complaining about how easy normal difficulty is. I jest, it’s more about how the series has become more accessible to all players. How the busywork and tedium have been stripped out to get at the core of what makes a Fire Emblem game enjoyable. It’s a fascinating perspective, and it leaves me curious as to whether they’ll like the game when reviews drop.
This one starts off with some vague spoilers I would rather have not read, so check this one out with that in mind. While leaning positive, it also gives the impression that Jenkins isn’t a fan of anime-style storytelling in general or maybe just doesn’t engage with much foreign media. He loves the combat though.
By Scott Duwe
Duwe is new to Fire Emblem, which makes his coverage one to watch, at least for me, as I always love to get a newcomer’s perspective on any long running series. He’s also not an anime guy, but is at least more open to the prospect of enjoying a game in that style. He finds the game a bit overwhelming, but enjoyable. He also appreciates getting a review code a month in advance, which is sadly rare in our line of work. Usually you only get a week tops with a game, a lot of the time even less than that.
By Dom Leighton
Dom starts out by noting how Fire Emblem sorta sticks out against Nintendo’s more popular fare, but also mentions how its star is on the rise and it’s already one of the best selling strategy games of all time. Just like Metro’s preview, though, this includes a particular early spoiler I’d rather not know, though the game apparently includes an Arachnaphobia mode too, which is neat. He also notes the improved performance over Three Houses, though also that it’s not quite perfect.
By Matt S.
Matt S. gives Fortune’s Weave tentative high praise, calling it his favorite Fire Emblem since The Blazing Blade. He attributes some of that to Leda, and admittedly she seems like she’ll be my fav as well, and some deeper character work than recent games have provided. He says the game respects the player’s intelligence and maturity, which is nice to see.
By Amaan
Similar to Dom Leighton’s, Amaan begins their preview by looking back at Fire Emblem’s past. They then follow that up by dramatically summarizing the story’s opening, which makes Amaan a person of my own writing proclivities. I, too, am something of a drama queen. Again though, we’ve got some spoilers for the opening before moving on to typical preview stuff. Amaan feels the story so far feels a little rushed compared to other RPGs and previous FE titles. They also give specifics on how the game runs, and its 30 fps.
By Jim Norman
Norman starts off hot by saying he preferred Engage to Three Houses, a game I personally found so boring I just couldn’t bring myself to even enjoy the admittedly deeper and more engaging gameplay. Ya gotta respect it though, and I thoroughly enjoyed this more skeptical take on the game’s first few hours. If you watch the video version, this is also the first preview to feature a person of the non-male persuasion (as far as I know), as Mai Ladyman talks about the game with Jim. It’s depressing how male-dominated the ever dwindling field of games criticism can be, so thank god for Mai. This is a good one to read, watch, or both if you want an overview of the game with little to no spoilers.
By Aaron Potter
So Aaron Potter gets a bit of a pass because of his name, but what’s with some of these previews bringing up Harry Potter for some reason? I thought we were all forgetting about that franchise because the woman who made it is bonkers and wants several people I love and cherish to cease existing? This preview also shows some of said spoilers I would rather not know about, this time in video form. Potter gives a good overview of the game, but doesn’t exactly add anything new to the conversation, though that’s partially because I’m seeing it pretty late in this round-up. Maybe you vibe with his style though, but this isn’t my jam.
Marco places a lot of focus on characters and storytelling here, giving some basic examples of character dynamics. His footage looks way brighter than anyone else’s for some reason (I know the devastating mistakes you can make in capture all too well so I sympathise), but I enjoyed his short overview of the game. You get to watch some extended gameplay with audio as Cocomello narrates, so it’s a pretty chill time.
That’s all the previews I could find for Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave, so I hope you enjoyed this part round-up, part weird review-ish thing. I really hope we see more gender diversity in coverage of the full game, because most people I know who really love Fire Emblem aren’t dudes. Even so, please check out each and every journalist listed in this article, as they did the actual hard work here, I’m just talking about it. If I missed your preview, it’s either because it was an hour-long podcast or I just didn’t see it, so shoot me an email if you’re the latter and maybe I can add yours to the list!
